


Submerged

by Leonidas1754



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood Loss, Lance is sad and feels worthless, M/M, Mild Klance feels at the end but mostly it's not, Near Death Experiences, Written between seasons 3 and 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 16:43:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11993814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonidas1754/pseuds/Leonidas1754
Summary: Lance responds to a call for help while out flying Red, and nearly dies because of it. Thankfully, a bit of good fortune and the concern of his friends makes all the difference.





	Submerged

**Author's Note:**

> It's really bizarre to write a story with only one actual line of dialogue, especially knowing that dialogue is my strong suit and it's all just kind of weird. In any case, hope you enjoy!

Lance’s chest burns, and all he can think is, _‘This is it. This is how I die.’_

He can’t blame anyone but himself. He came alone, all out of some sense of proving himself, and the other Paladins didn’t know where he was, they probably hadn’t even noticed he was gone. He was going to die here, and it was all his fault.

It felt like a lifetime ago, when he’d been tossing and turning in bed before deciding to get up and take Red flying to try to clear his mind and bond with her. It was another night of his own mind eating away at him, and he’d spoken to his lion about how he felt incompetent, a burden, unneeded by the team. The only reason he was still there was because he’d been the blue, and now the red, pilot, and was needed to form Voltron. Rationally, he knew it wasn’t true, but the heart is not so easily convinced.

He shouldn’t have responded to that distress call alone, he should have alerted the team, but his emotions got the better of him, and he went alone to a planet covered in water. Its inhabitants were being attacked not by Galra, but by other raiders who were capitalizing on the chaos between the Galra and Voltron to attack and pillage numerous planets.

He’d fought well. He should be proud that he’d done so much. Their ships were destroyed, the natives were able to fight back. They could take back their homes and stolen belongings.

Lance could see the blood drifting up as he sunk to the seafloor, coming from a hole in his suit near his abdomen. Normally, it wouldn’t be fatal, but with the salt water and the time it would take to get back to the castle, he doubted he could survive even if he managed to get himself back to Red right at that moment.  
The light of the stars flickered over the surface of the water, bioluminescent plants waving gently in the current around him, some even emitting bubbles occasionally. If he had to die, he didn’t mind it being here. It reminded him of a cove near his home, where he used to go swimming as a kid.

The others would find the Red Lion, they’d find a new pilot. He’d never been one for fire, anyways. He’d always loved the water. He didn’t mind dying if he could die here.  
Salty tears burned as they fell down his face, peering up at the surface of the water through the glass of his helmet. They’d be alright without him. Hunk would be upset, Pidge too most likely, but they’d recover twice as strong. Keith would probably be relieved to have him gone, Allura as well, although she’d never admit it, she was too polite for that. He wasn’t sure how Shiro would feel. A tinge of guilt jolted through Lance at giving the man another trouble to deal with.

The edges of his vision were getting dark, tears making the rest a blur, and he simply closed his eyes, giving in to the deep.

* * *

 Keith was about to lose it.

He paced back and forth across the room, face drawn in hard, stressed lines. Pidge and Hunk watched him, their own expressions taut with worry, and Shiro’s was simply unreadable as he looked out the window. Allura was at the console of the castle, tracking down the Red Lion.

They’d noticed he was gone right away. It was like a hole in the wall, a stark absence from their team, and at first they’d brushed it off as Lance going off and training or something, but when they’d looked for him, they couldn’t find him anywhere, as well as discovering the Red Lion was gone.

Coran suggested he might have simply taken Red out flying, but without any idea of when he’d left, and waiting for hours for him to come back, everyone was steadily getting more and more worried.

Keith didn’t dare speak lest he bite someone’s head off or spill his worries over onto the others. They were all stressed enough without him making it worse. He just needed to let Allura find the Red Lion, she could do that.

As soon as she had the location, he was out the door, bolting to the Black Lion, and seeing the others doing similar, dashing towards their respective Lions. It took all of Keith’s self control not to run off without them. If Lance was in danger, he’d need the team, not Keith running headfirst into danger. He wasn’t with Red anymore, he couldn’t be that impulsive.

They approached the blue planet and landed on a large mass of plant matter that reminded Keith of lily pads back on Earth. The natives came and greeted them happily, explaining that the surrounding mess was due to an attack by raiders, but they’d been fought off with the assistance of the red lion. When Keith asked where he was now, they looked at each other uncomfortably before stating that they’d thought he’d simply left. Then one of the elders came forward, stating that he’d seen the Paladin.

Lance had been shot through the abdomen, and his body had sunk into the water of the planet, near the crater of a dormant underwater volcano.

Keith felt like someone had turned his veins to ice. Lance had been shot, and from the sound of it, he was likely dead. Allura’s voice reached him through his panic, however, saying they should search for him.

He dove into the water near the volcano, the group splitting up with a few of the natives that joined their search party. The mountain itself was covered in sea life, luminous in the night and breath catching in beauty. Keith would have loved to stop and appreciate it, but the thought barely crossed his mind over searching for Lance. He could hear Hunk murmuring to himself in the coms, assuring himself that Lance was alright, he had to be.

Keith pushed himself through the water, moving down through the plants and stone until a flicker of blue and white caught his eye, and he moved towards it. He couldn’t deny the tears that began falling from his eyes when he saw Lance, laying there in the flora. There was blood in the water near his abdomen, and Keith had to turn off his coms so the others wouldn’t hear him crying. There was fog forming and disappearing on the visor, the only sign he was still breathing. The plants seemed to be growing over him, as if he’d been there for weeks already, and Keith called one of the natives over to help.

The native woman explained that Lance had fallen into a patch of a plant that had unusual properties. It was called the fire vine in their language, and it only grew on these volcanoes. It also had a strange ability to sense of blood and would move towards it, so the people often buried their dead on the sides of these volcanoes and planted the vine over it. Had it not been for the plant, Lance most likely would have bled out.

Keith couldn’t hold back a hiccupy laugh at the thought that he had a plant to thank for Lance’s life. He simply took the bandages that they’d brought and nudged the plant away, binding his wound before untangling him from the vines.

Keith couldn’t turn back on the coms, not in the state he was in, so he simply swam, carrying Lance while the others relayed the good news to the rest of their search party.

All Keith could do was watch the other breathe in and out, shallow, but blessedly alive, the relief choking in Keith’s throat.

* * *

 When Lance finally woke, he wasn’t entirely sure he was alive, at first. He’d been so sure he was going to die there in the sea, but someone must have found him. He slowly sat up, wincing at the mild pain in his abdomen, but he assumed he had been put in a healing pod, because it wasn’t too bad. When he looked down to examine it, he was distracted by someone else already there.

Keith was sitting in a chair beside his bed, arms folded on the covers and head pillowed in them. Lance wondered how long Keith had been sleeping there, and how long he’d been asleep himself.

Allura entered the room, making him jump, and greeted him warmly, telling him how glad she was to see he was awake. When he asked about Keith, she laughed softly, stating that he hadn’t left Lance’s side in the entire time he’d been asleep. Then she left to give the others the good news, stating she’d hold them back for the most part until he was ready to see them. They wouldn’t want to overwhelm him so soon after his near-death experience.

Lance leaned back against the wall and looked down at Keith once more. He wasn’t sure how long he sat there, simply watching the other, but eventually he stirred, waking and sitting back up in his chair with a yawn.

Keith’s eyes widened as he saw Lance, awake and sitting up, and Lance was surprised to see the relief flood his gaze. Keith leaned forward and wrapped Lance in a hug, telling him how glad he was that Lance was alright.

Lance was confused. He thought the others would be fine with him gone, that they’d find someone new, and he must have accidentally voiced his thoughts out loud because Keith pulled back with a look of pained confusion.

They’d been broken and stressed without him, wondering every moment if and when he’d wake. Everyone had missed him.

Lance could feel the tears burning again as Keith spoke, and he sniffed and wiped at his eyes. He could feel the bed shift as Keith crawled in beside him, pulling him into a hug and asking if that was really what he thought of himself. Lance was half afraid to answer.

Keith held him close, squeezing his waist and resting his cheek on Lance’s head. He told Lance of how happy they’d be to hear he was alright, and how worried they’d been when they’d found out he was gone.

Lance tucked himself against Keith, remaining quiet. Maybe he’d just been foolish, to think all those things. It didn’t upset him, however; instead, he was happy to be proven wrong. And then Keith murmured something in his ear that made him freeze.

_“Please don’t leave me again…”_

Lance wasn’t even sure he’d heard him right at first. But there was no mistaking those words, and Lance simply stayed quiet. A small smile made its way to his lips, and he relaxed in Keith’s arms. He could bother Keith about what he meant later, but for now, he just wanted to enjoy the closeness and the warmth of the knowledge that he’d been wrong.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment, they make my day. You can also check out my blog, SimonSaysAStory, on Tumblr for progress about more fics and WIPs!


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